Britain’s Sam Sunderland faced a tough start to his fourth day at this year’s Dakar riding the factory Red Bull KTM.

Finishing 15th on the previous stage meant Sunderland was forced to chase down and overtake several riders ahead of him in order to make up valuable minutes on the leaders.

Despite clouds of dust impairing his vision, and speed, for the first half of the special, Sam kept his head down and was able to push harder over the final 150 kilometres.

Fastest on the stage, a five-minute penalty imposed afterward relegated Sunderland to eighth in the provisional results.

“I really had to work hard today. Starting so late there was a lot of dust over the first half of the stage, but luckily I was able to pass a group of riders right before the refuelling stop and after that I could really push on,” said Sunderland.

“I kept a good rhythm and concentrated on my notes because navigation was really tricky again today. It’s been a really difficult, difficult day but in the end I was able to bring it home safely and with a good time.”